The Devil's holiday

Last year at this time, I was talking with a (Protestant) friend and co-worker about Halloween. He had just explained to another co-worker that he didn't believe in celebrating it because it was "the Devil's day," and asked my opinion. I agreed with him that it was indeed, but for a completely different reason. Today is the day that Satan launched his biggest and most successful assault on Christianity since the Muslim invasions of the seventh century. It's not just Halloween, it's Reformation Day.

My friend took it in good spirits, having been Catholic for some years and having a respect for us that many of his persuasion don't share. That they don't is testimony to Satan's ability to spread lies and deceive man.

The real evil in Reformation Day is not really contained in the actual events of the day. Really, when Martin Luther posted his theses, he was protesting something that really needed protesting. Simony and bad catechesis need correcting anywhere they occur, and the Germany of Luther's day was riddled with both. I don't think Luther's initial gesture was motivated by thhe Devil. But the fruit that came of it in the long term sprouted straight from hell, whether Luther meant it to or not.

Satan's best lies come out of half-truths. The half that was truthful was that there was something wrong with the Church, and that it was incumbent on Christians of good conscience to try to correct it. The lie, the big thumping falsehood thhat Satan created out of this came about as a twisting of this into the idea – now accepted as Gospel by Luther's spiritual descendents – that the Church was wrong, period. That the great mass of Christendom, which Christ had established as an eternal edifice, was in fact a huge lie. That Jesus had lied in promising that the gates of hell would not prevail. That the Apostles had lied to their successors in conferring their authority on them. That the Holy Spirit had lied to the Church at Ecumenical Councils, guiding them into error. In the third chapter of Genesis, Satan called God a liar: "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Luther, Calvin and their followers went a step beyond, calling the Church that Christ established a lie. It is now a popular belief that to belong to the Catholic Church, to believe the promises of Christ, to obey the sucessors of the Apostles, is not salvation but damnation in itself. In short, the Reformation resulted in the belief that to belong to Christ's Church is to be damned, and it is necessary to disobey to be saved. "Woe to them that call good evil and evil good," says the Bible. But the Gospel has been twisted in an Orwellian fashion until it is thought to be the antithesis of itself.

Despite all that, Satan has not managed to break the Church altogether. He cannot unbaptize either Catholic or Protestant; he cannot cancel the love and mercy God has for those who love Him no matter how many lies he repeats. Protestant Christians (and they are that) may be in rebellion against Christ's Church, but their motive is still love of God. Even in the midst of deception, God's people love and serve Him, and he has not forgotten that. Satan can deceive, but he cannot damn. And the Gospel goes on, even in truncated form. The gates of hell have not prevailed, even against those who believe they have.

Moreover, those same Protestant traditions, either in spite of or because of their rebellion, have served as a reminder to the Church that we are duty-bound to safeguard the Gospel and the faith. Out of Luther's Protestant Reformation came the Catholic Reformation, in which so many wrongs were set right and so much corruption was cleansed out of the Church. The zeal of today's Protestants should and does make us too ashamed to be complacent about the faith. We may not be united on matters of doctrine, but we are still brothers by a blood tie stronger than mere genetics. Satan can no more break up that family bond in the long term than he can disunite the Trinity. We may fight this side of death, but in heaven, we will be reunited and laugh at how we fought on earth.

So enjoy your hollow victory, Satan. You did some damage, but the blow was not mortal. You may laugh on Reformation Day, but in the Day of the Lord, you'll howl, as the people you deceived, and the people you turned them against, all celebrate your defeat. Together.